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From Mountain Ranges to Sweeping Plains, in Droughts and Flooding Rains; River Murray Water Quality over the Last Four Decades

Author

Listed:
  • Tapas K. Biswas

    (Murray-Darling Basin Authority
    Australian National University)

  • Luke M. Mosley

    (University of Adelaide)

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to analyse the spatial and temporal patterns and drivers of water quality in a large arid/semi-arid river system (River Murray, Australia) using a long term (1978 − 2015) dataset collected from 24 monitoring sites. The water quality is highly variable, but on average electrical conductivity (EC), pH, turbidity, dissolved and total nutrient, colour and chlorophyll a levels increase with distance downstream from the headwaters to the lower reaches. This is a function of the natural accumulation of dissolved and particulate components and intermittent, mostly diffuse source, pollutant inputs. The Darling tributary inflow increases turbidity, total phosphorus and pH in the main River Murray channel. Based on long-term trend analysis at four representative sites, EC, nutrients and colour showed declining trends on average at most sites except in the headwaters. Increased flow increases concentrations of most quality parameters, although at very high flows decreases in pH, EC, turbidity and oxidized nitrogen were apparent at many sites. The extreme “Millennium” drought (2002 − 2009) period resulted in lowered concentrations of many water quality parameters, indicating retention in the landscape. In the post-drought flooding (2010 − 2012) period a large amount of organic material was mobilised, resulting in much higher peak colour concentrations than when mid-range flooding was more frequent. It is critical that this monitoring program is continued as a Basin-wide water management plan is implemented.

Suggested Citation

  • Tapas K. Biswas & Luke M. Mosley, 2019. "From Mountain Ranges to Sweeping Plains, in Droughts and Flooding Rains; River Murray Water Quality over the Last Four Decades," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(3), pages 1087-1101, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:33:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11269-018-2168-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-018-2168-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Howitt, Julia A. & Baldwin, Darren S. & Rees, Gavin N. & Williams, Janice L., 2007. "Modelling blackwater: Predicting water quality during flooding of lowland river forests," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 229-242.
    2. Luke Mosley & Benjamin Zammit & Emily Leyden & Theresa Heneker & Matthew Hipsey & Dominic Skinner & Kane Aldridge, 2012. "The Impact of Extreme Low Flows on the Water Quality of the Lower Murray River and Lakes (South Australia)," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(13), pages 3923-3946, October.
    3. S. Giakoumakis & G. Tsakiris, 1997. "Meteorological Drought Effect on Sediment Yield," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 11(5), pages 365-376, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mohammad Ali Baghapour & Mohammad Reza Shooshtarian & Mahdi Zarghami, 2020. "Process Mining Approach of a New Water Quality Index for Long-Term Assessment under Uncertainty Using Consensus-Based Fuzzy Decision Support System," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 34(3), pages 1155-1172, February.

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